Sunrise
20 November 2019
Prime Minister of Australia
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE: Prime Minister, good morning, welcome.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, a beautiful day here in Brisbane.
ARMYTAGE: I'll bet it is. We don't have much, we don't have any of the detail yet on the exact projects, but we understand they are existing infrastructure projects that will be brought forward. Is this a sign that the economy is in a pretty bad state?
PRIME MINISTER: What it's a sign is of a government that is actually investing in building the infrastructure that people need to get to work, to grow our economy, to get them home sooner and safer. We've been working on this since the election. In the last six months I've been working with the state and territory Premiers and Chief Ministers to bring forward projects into this year, next year, in the next few years. $3.8 billion being invested in these important projects like the light rail down on the Gold Coast or the M1 here in Queensland, the Tonkin Highway over in Western Australia or down in New South Wales in the Princes Highway or the Monash in Melbourne. All of these projects that will provide important extra support to the economy through jobs. But on top of that, more money going into drought-affected communities. And of course, there were the tax cuts that we announced and passed through law a few months ago.
NATALIE BARR: But they didn't seem to get through, did they? We're in a bit of a problem here. If you add unemployment and underemployment, it's at 13.8 per cent. We've got record low interest rates, but people aren't spending. Wages are stagnant. So is the economy struggling and is it going to get worse? Is that really why you're doing this?
PRIME MINISTER: The economy is growing and you compare it to, say, Germany, that had a negative quarter of growth, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore, even. Australia compared to these other developed economies around the world, we're continuing to grow where others are failing to grow. And yeah, we have some tough challenges at the moment and the drought itself has taken over 8 per cent off of our farm production over the last 12 months. But yet we continue to grow. And next year, the forecast not just from the government but from international organisations as well, is showing that we're expecting things to improve next year. But that means we've got to keep investing. That's why straight after the election, I just sat down straight with all the Premiers, whatever side of politics they were from. Well, look, a Labor Premier up here in Queensland and in Victoria, but also in New South Wales and in South Australia, where I made announcements earlier this week, just to get this stuff done. That's what people elected us to do, just to get this stuff done. And proper projects, not cash splashes and overpriced school halls and sending cheques to deceased people and things like that we saw when Labor was putting stimulus into the economy. These are real projects that have been carefully considered with long term benefits.
ARMYTAGE: Well, we love real projects and we want to see shovels in the ground. But how much of this will go to the bush and to regional centres? I know we've seen some massive, you know, the WestConnex in Sydney, for example, massive infrastructure projects, belatedly but excellently being built in New South Wales. What's going to happen in the bush?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, this is going into the bush as well. I mean, in South Australia alone, a massive project for rural road safety. We've got the Princes Highway down in southern New South Wales, the Bruce Highway up here in Queensland, out in regional parts of the country. I mean, this is going both into rural and regional areas as well as in the metropolitan areas. And a big part of what this is doing is actually landing the final part of the agreements between the Queensland and the Commonwealth governments on the inland rail, which links Melbourne all the way through to Brisbane, running through so many rural and regional districts up through each of the states that are affected, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. So this is right across the board from coast to coast and from top to bottom. This is where our investment is going. It's an investment in long term outcomes for Australia. And if you're, you know, on the M1 today and that's why we're investing in the M1 to get you to work quicker and to get you home sooner and safer.
BARR: So what else, what other detail can you tell us about where these projects are going?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll be making further announcements about that today. But again, what I stress this is about - when you put the tax cuts the time through just after we were elected together with what we're doing with these projects and importantly in rural and regional communities where we've tripled how much we're putting in to support drought-affected communities since the election, all of that combined is providing much-needed support to the economy as we face these headwinds. But we're doing it without increasing taxes and we're doing it while keeping the Budget in surplus, which means we can pay down debt. See, surplus isn't just some money you find down the back of the couch. What this is, is ensuring that we can pay down the debt that was built up by all those years of deficits. That's what a surplus does. It's very important to have one to pay down debt so we don't burden future generations.
ARMYTAGE: Prime Minister, why announce all of this now? Is this a little Christmas present for Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: It's taken us this past six months to get to this point. I mean, we've been working on this for months and months and we've been doing it carefully, not in a panic, not in a crisis. We don't need panic and crisis. What we need is calm, considered, measured projects, well worked through with the states and territories. This has been a very exhaustive process and I want to thank all the Premiers and all the Chief Ministers for the way they've engaged with us as we've identified these projects. This hasn't been done in a hurry or a panic. It's been done carefully to invest in our economy, to support jobs and to ensure at the end of the day, people get home sooner and safer.
BARR: Ok. While we've got you, Prime Minister, Australian academic Timothy Weeks and his American colleague Kevin King have been released by the Taliban in Afghanistan after being held for more than three years. Have you had any word on Timothy Weeks’ condition?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, the Foreign Minister also spoke to the family this morning and as a result, you know, you'd expect they're just completely overjoyed. And also for Mr King and I'm sure his family, they're equally overjoyed. We thank very much the fantastic work that has been done by President Trump and the United States administration, Secretary Pompeo, who I've been in contact with overnight, in ending what has been three years of absolute hell for Tim Weeks. Obviously, the families asked that their privacy now be respected. But I understand he's, under the circumstances, in good condition and he's currently going through all of those assessments, as you'd expect. But this has been a great piece of work done in the interests of both of these two gentlemen and we couldn't be more pleased to finally get them out safely and to get them home to their families.
BARR: It is good news. Ok, Prime Minister, we know you're off to the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services HQ, so we'll let you go. All the best with that and thanks for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks for your time. And out there in Queensland and South Australia today obviously strong fire warnings. And in New South Wales, they continue to do an amazing job to keep people safe. So thanks to all our firefighters and all those supporting.
BARR: Too right. Thank you, Prime Minister. Talk to you soon.